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Basic concepts Morpheme: Morpheme: A morpheme is a smallest meaningful unit in a language. It may be lexical or rammatical: 女 n ǚ lexical ，子 z ǐ lexcical or grammtical ，

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Bound vs. free morphemes: Bound vs. free morphemes: Free: morphemes that can be uttered independently and used freely. 人 rén person. Free: morphemes that can be uttered independently and used freely. 人 rén person. Bound: always occur in conjunction with another morpheme. 子 -z ǐ as in 兒子 érzi. Bound: always occur in conjunction with another morpheme. 子 -z ǐ as in 兒子 érzi.

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Prefix: Prefix: Any affix that appears before a free morpheme. un-happy, 老師 l ǎ o-shī Any affix that appears before a free morpheme. un-happy, 老師 l ǎ o-shī Suffix: Suffix: Any affix that appears at the end of a word. work-s, 兒子 ér-zi Any affix that appears at the end of a word. work-s, 兒子 ér-zi

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Characters Characters A Chinese character is a morphemes (either free or bound) A Chinese character is a morphemes (either free or bound) A character is not necessarily a word. 我 w ǒ is a word 們 men is not a word, but a morpheme, a suffix. A character is not necessarily a word. 我 w ǒ is a word 們 men is not a word, but a morpheme, a suffix. Chinese words mostly are two-morpheme words. 中國 Zhōngguó 地圖 dìtú 學生 xuésheng Chinese words mostly are two-morpheme words. 中國 Zhōngguó 地圖 dìtú 學生 xuésheng

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Hyponyms Hyponyms Words within a same category, with a hierarchy. The words within a category under another word are hyponyms of the word at the upper level. Words within a same category, with a hierarchy. The words within a category under another word are hyponyms of the word at the upper level. Animal Animal dog cat pig... dog cat pig...

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Idioms Four character idioms chéngy ǔ 四字成語 Four character idioms chéngy ǔ 四字成語 狐假虎威 hú-jià-h ǔ -wēi 狐假虎威 hú-jià-h ǔ -wēi the fox assuming the majesty of tiger – borrowing the power to do evil the fox assuming the majesty of tiger – borrowing the power to do evil 一鳴驚人 yì-míng-jīng-rén 一鳴驚人 yì-míng-jīng-rén to make one’s mark at the first shot, to amaze the world with a single brilliant feat to make one’s mark at the first shot, to amaze the world with a single brilliant feat 南轅北轍 nán-yuán-běi-zhè 南轅北轍 nán-yuán-běi-zhè to go south by driving the chariot north, means and ends opposed, practice diametrically opposed to preaching. to go south by driving the chariot north, means and ends opposed, practice diametrically opposed to preaching. *Chinese chéngy ǔ may function as nouns or verbs. *Chinese chéngy ǔ may function as nouns or verbs.

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Xiòuy ǔ 歇後語 Xiòuy ǔ 歇後語 A special expression composed by two parts. The first part is a statement or a description. The second part is the essence of the expression. A special expression composed by two parts. The first part is a statement or a description. The second part is the essence of the expression. 老鼠過街﹐人人喊打。 老鼠過街﹐人人喊打。 L ǎ osh ǔ guō jiē, rénrén h ǎ n d ǎ. L ǎ osh ǔ guō jiē, rénrén h ǎ n d ǎ. When rats are running across the street, every body yells: “Kill them!” (to be chased by all like a rat running across the street.) When rats are running across the street, every body yells: “Kill them!” (to be chased by all like a rat running across the street.)